Sunday, June 28, 2015

The Big O's Presidency

Not to put too fine a point on it, but those on the Republican
right who have jumped to a kneejerk, sight unseen rejection of the Iran deal
are the same people who brought us the Vietnam War and the invasion of Iraq. I
don't mean the identical individuals, though there's carry over; I mean they
are governed by the same impulse, including the assumption that there are no
limits to what American military force can achieve in reshaping the world.

Is he "transformative" as a friend of mine likes
to ask? I think he is absolutely and historically "transformative". He
put a national health care law in place, in these, the United States, which has
always abjured anything of the kind. He helped turn the national tide toward
gay rights.He has set in place a long
belated and irreversible opening to Cuba. He's helped tilt national opinion
toward, if not gun, then cop supervision.

Does he know what to do about the Middle East? The United
States broke but refused to own that situation and now it's worse than it was
before.

What about Iran?

We'll see.

It occurred to me listening to his eulogy in Charleston that
in that speech he had won the 2016 election for Hillary who of course, qua Hillary,
could blow it.

His eulogy was a solo, in the best sense, implying backup
and response. He had the cadences and the timing. I don't believe in god and
therefore in god's grace — he was heavy on that theological principle — but I
couldn't but be moved.